Outdoor power equipment includes such devices as mowers, trimmers, edgers, chainsaws and the like. These devices are often used to perform tasks that inherently produce debris, and they are also inherently required to be mobile. Accordingly, these devices are typically made to be relatively robust and capable of handling difficult work in hostile environments, while balancing the requirement for mobility. However, even though these devices are often primarily constructed with a balance between mobility and robustness in mind so that they can engage in hard work in hostile environments, they are still sometimes called upon to perform precision work. For example, such devices may be asked to make precise cuts having straight edges or specific lengths. In the past, operator skill and/or the operator's ability to utilize externally available tools have been the determining factors in the ability to generate specifically detailed work product. For example, the operator may have been required to make separate measurements using a tape measure in combination with a keen eye and steady hand to employ precision cuts. For obtaining straight trimming lines, some operators may use a horizontally strained string as a guide.
More recently, larger devices have been able to employ guidance features that are driven, for example, by the use of global positioning systems (GPS). GPS guidance may be employed in connection with large agricultural equipment such as tractors, or even some lawn tractors, in order to guide operators relative to performing some precision tasks. However, commercially available GPS does not provide sufficient accuracy to enable an operator to generate precise work product in the context of smaller pieces of equipment, where the measurements are confined to small areas or where the work product requires small tolerances.
Accordingly, there may be a desire to provide improved methods of providing measurement and guidance for outdoor power equipment.